Assessments labeled as formative have been offered as a means to improve student achievement. But labels can be a powerful way to miscommunicate. For an assessment use to be appropriately labeled "formative," both empirical evidence and reasoned arguments must be offered to support the claim that improvements in student achievement can be linked…

This "Research Update" explores two major themes: (1) Using evaluation to shape program improvement and planning; and (2) Out-of-school time benefits to older youth and their families. Themes were culled from 13 research and evaluation reports added to the Out-of-School Time (OST) Program Research and Evaluation Bibliography in September 2008.…

This study investigated the influence of the intervention process on the effectiveness of a program aimed at promoting positive parenting. The study involved a homogeneous intervention sample (N = 120) of mothers and their 1-, 2-, or 3-year-old children screened for high levels of externalizing problems. The alliance between mother and intervener,…

The article reports on a small-scale in-depth research study investigating formative assessment enacted and theorised from a sociocultural perspective within a part-time Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) programme in an English university. Going beyond its conventional conceptualisation within psychological and motivational frameworks,…

A dual mode institution provides educational courses by both the conventional, on-campus mode and by distance education. This article discusses the challenges encountered during introduction of distance education at the University of Botswana (UB). At the UB, introduction of distance education was piecemeal and left the Distance Education Unit…

Touted as a more effective approach to determining eligibility for specific learning disability (SLD) than establishing a severe discrepancy between ability and achievement, response to intervention (RTI) represents various models that share these common characteristics: (a) multiple tiers of scientific, research-based interventions; (b)…

We illustrate the use of formative and summative assessment in evaluating a therapeutic classroom program for children with serious emotional disturbances. Information was analyzed based on data gathered for clinical decision-making during treatment (formative assessment) and measurement of outcomes at discharge (summative assessment) from a…

Recent disasters have been of such scale and complexity that both the common assumptions made about learning from them, and the traditional approaches distinguishing natural from technological disasters (and now terrorism) are thus challenged. Beck's risk thesis likewise signals the need for a paradigmatic change. Despite sociological inflections…

Forsyth County Schools has recently finished a very successful year. In 2008, all 16 elementary schools and eight middle schools made Adequate Yearly Progress. In spite of the fact that Georgia administered new, more rigorous math assessments for grades 3-5 and grade 8, the district had an average of 22% more students passing the assessments than…

As a result of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002, the field of education has seen a heavy emphasis on the use of "scientifically based research" for designing and testing the effectiveness of new and existing educational programs. According to NCLB, when addressing basic cause and effect questions scientifically based…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss an expansion of the Special Education Bulgaria (SEB) internet community that is required to pilot software created by the European Union's (EU's) Sixth Framework integrated project, TENCompetence. Design/methodology/approach: SEB is the product of a two-year research project designed to create a…

Formative assessment was hypothesized to have a beneficial impact on students' science achievement and conceptual change, either directly or indirectly by enhancing motivation. We designed and embedded formatives assessments within an inquiry science unit. Twelve middle-school science teachers with their students were randomly assigned either to…

Strategic and well-planned use of feedback in the assessment process is key to promoting learning. This paper evaluates the role a two-stage test process played in guiding and assisting student learning in a second-year module at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Having been provided with verbal and written feedback without grades…

This study explores students' attitudes to the provision of formative feedback on academic work using audio files together with the ways in which students implement such feedback within their learning. Fifteen students received audio file feedback on written work and were subsequently interviewed regarding their utilisation of that feedback within…

The intention of this article is to illustrate how assessment is an "emotional practice" (Hargreaves, 1998) for teachers and how paying attention to the emotions involved can provide useful information about assessment practices to teachers, teacher-educators and policy-reformers. Through presenting a review of research literature it makes three…